Scientists say soil near fuel spill site in Norilsk not highly contaminated

MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. The Great Norilsk Expedition did not register high level of soil contamination near Norilsk, Acting Director of the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch Vladimir Androkhanov said during a presentation of the expedition’s results on Thursday.

“In August, the contamination remained near the accident site and in the Ambarnaya River’s floodplain,” he said. “All the samples, collected from the Pyasina River’s headwaters to the mouth, are characterized as having background levels and do not contain signs of oil contamination.”

The evaluation and analysis of oil products in the soils along the river have not demonstrated ecologically hazardous levels even in areas close to the accident site, the expedition’s report reads.

“Maximum concentrations of oil products often have been found not in the upper, but in lower soil layers. Contamination of soil at the depth of more than 30-40cm has not been registered. The shallow penetration of oil products into the soils could be explained by the soils’ perennially frozen state, which did not allow the oil products to get accumulated in the soils and to penetrate deeper into them,” the report reads.

Expedition to Taimyr

The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has sent to the Taimyr Peninsula, at the invitation of Nornickel, a big scientific expedition to conduct a large-scale examination of the area. Scientists will use the expedition’s results to present suggestions for industrial companies, working in the Arctic, on how to preserve the nature.

The expedition’s key points were watersheds of the Rivers Pyasina, Norilka and Ambarnaya and Lake Pyasino. In August, experts from 14 research institutes of the Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch collected samples of soils, plants and sediments and began tests at the institutes’ labs.